Islam between Theatre and Performance

Catalog description

This course explores the nuanced relationship among concepts of theatre, performance and Islam in diverse texts and contexts. Our readings cut across disciplinary divides, weaving together theatre history, Islamic intellectual-cultural history, theory of performance, and theory of religion to support a dynamic, critical approach to our field of inquiry. We will discuss how attention to theatricality and performance may enrich our understanding of representations of Islam by Muslims, representations of Islam by non-Muslims, and the relationships between these representations. Taking as a point of departure the extreme opposition between “Islam” and “theatre” that contemporary discourse typically supposes when overlapping these topics, we will evaluate this convention and consider the reasons for its long and continuing prevalence.